Miami Heat Not Fazed by Physical Play from the Chicago Bulls

You can expect to see a lot more hard fouls and cheap shots as the second round Playoff series between the Heat and Bulls shifts to Chicago starting tonight. According to LeBron James and crew, that’s perfectly fine by them. Per the Sun-Sentinel: “Despite nine technical fouls being issued, 51 personal fouls, two ejected Bulls and a foul-mouthed, finger-flipping female fan who went viral, most Heat players said the physical nature of their Game 2 rout was blown out of proportion. And that even the well-behaved fans haven’t seen anything yet as the series shifts to the United Center, also known as the Madhouse on Madison (Avenue) or the ‘Lions den” as Heat coach Erik Spoelstra put it. ‘It really wasn’t that physical, and I’m sure as the series goes on it’ll turn up a lot more,’ Heat center Chris Bosh said after practice Thursday afternoon at AmericanAirlines Arena. ‘We have to have that physical mind-set to just bring it to those guys. When the whistle blows that means play stops. If a guy scores I’m moving on to the next play, but everything in between is a fight. I enjoy it and … people like watching it.’ [...] ‘We got a rivalry and the same way they don’t like us, we don’t like them and that’s how it is,’ said James, who got into it just a little with Bulls center Joakim Noah, who drew the first of two technical fouls before being tossed with 10:13 to play. ‘What happened last night would’ve been [like a] couple of guys getting punched in the face in the ’80s. I don’t really get into it too much. I hold my ground but I don’t get too rah-rah about it because nothing’s going to happen.’ Erik Spoelstra said he had no problems with the officiating and didn’t consider anything out of the norm. ‘You have two culture organizations who pride themselves on defense and toughness, so that’s what you’ll get,’ Spoelstra said. ‘Because of the technicals and ejections there’s going to be a perception that it’s gone above and beyond basketball. It’s not. Both teams are competing and want it to be decided between the floor lines.’”